As long as cloud storage providers have been offering their solutions, they have been offering free accounts. It is just good business sense. When you have a virtually untapped market all over the world that you are trying to get a piece of, it is important to at least give away something. Since the beginning of time, it has been an effective sales tactic, and in this day and age, it is expected. A lot of the deal shoppers out there will ask what their freebie will end up being and how much they will get for nothing. They will either take that freebie and use it constructively to make a decision about upgrading to something that they have to pay for, or they will have no intention of upgrading from the beginning. With cloud storage, as well as many other services and products, this is the cost of doing business.

We have mentioned several times before that there are price wars happening within the cloud storage market. As the costs of storage server equipment are slowing declining, so are the prices of cloud storage services, especially when they are offered by bigger companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon. Their primary occupations aren’t cloud storage, but why not take the opportunity to get into a popular and lucrative market? These bigger companies, with their diversified product and service offerings, are discovering that offering free cloud storage helps grease the deals on a lot of other things as well, especially electronics sales.

Say you are in the market for a new laptop, phone, tablet or other device. Although those devices are becoming more and more sophisticated by the month, there is still one glaring limitation, which is storage space. In fact, one of the biggest reasons people use cloud storage is to extend the space available on their devices. This allows them to have a cool looking device like the Microsoft Surface or the Apple iPad without having to invest extra money in models with higher storage capabilities. It also provides you a way to keep on using that device if you run out of space rather than having to purchase another one.

Apple’s products are well known as devices that do not accommodate external drives or flash cards like others do. The available memory on products like the iPhone, iPad and iPod are all fixed and internal, sealed within the sleek casing. Some people say they do this by design to keep you in the position of having to upgrade every couple years. They say it’s what keeps Apple able to sell record numbers of their new models as they are released. If this is indeed their sales model, then offering free cloud storage won’t factor into their plans, as it will go against that model of creating waste to re-sell.

But if Apple were to use their vast resources and iCloud servers to try to sell more products, they may very well succeed. If they were to offer a nicely sized iCloud account with 100GB of storage or so, forever free of charge to their customers, they may sell even more in this cloud storage age. There could be a clear benefit for them in that situation. They could also lower the amount of on-board storage they offer, which would in turn lower the price of the product. They would essentially be giving each customer what would cost them less than $1 per month in cloud storage.

Whether they decide to go this route or not, we are sure that other companies have already considered this as a possibility for when cloud storage prices drop to the point where it is no longer a profitable market. They will have a popular service that they can use to sell more products. That doesn’t seem like such a bad idea at all.

Did you know? You can get 5gb of free storage with the OpenDrive basic plan. Sign up here. Thanks for visiting!

As we approach the new year, we have done a lot of reflection about the cloud storage services that have been offered in 2014, including the innovations, pricing changes, relationships of the bigger companies with their customers and much more. We have seen a lot of up and coming cloud storage providers come and go within that same year, whether they were crushed by the competition or absorbed into bigger companies. Reflecting on the past always makes one wonder what the future has in store as well. If we don’t know where we came from, how do we know where we are going? Whether or not we know where we came from, how do we know that where we are going will be the right path?

Through much trial and error, cloud storage has been perfected into the ideal virtual file server and system. As making mistakes is all part of business, so is learning from others mistakes by careful perception of the relevant markets. Many of the could storage providers who are still going strong have learned from their own mistakes, as well as those of other companies. They learned how price points can cost them dearly if they are too high or of they institute policies that don’t take their customers to heart.

So what does 2015 hold for cloud storage? The future we see is very bright for the right providers who offer the right combination of features, conveniences and prices. Industry experts for the past few years have been predicting price wars, and we have seen the beginning o that over the past few years. What makes this relevant to the future, however, is the direction in which server technology will be going. To accommodate the newest and most unbelievably fast computing standards, there will need to be a significant number of upgrades done to cloud storage servers in the next few years to keep the bottleneck from being on the server side. Servers have always been faster than personal computers, but with the advent of solid storage drives and multiple core processors. If cloud storage providers don’t get with those time and upgrade their servers to accommodate these newer, faster processors, drives and RAM, they will find themselves left in the dust.

So naturally, if server equipment has to be upgraded, that will require a significant investment in new equipment, an investment which most smaller companies won’t be able to make, which will force them to be left behind. There is a balance there though, because a lot of companies are going to have to pass some of those costs onto the customers by raising plan prices. That would be the exact opposite of the trend of dropping prices due to the price wars. If those companies raise prices too much, they will also be left out in the cold. All that will be left are the companies who can accommodate the breakneck speeds of modern computing and low prices.

The future we see for cloud storage is indeed a very bright one, and those who are able to stay with the times will be triumphant in the market as they assist more people and businesses into the world of the cloud. Before we know it, everyone will be connected. Click below to get connected today.

You’ve had that old server for many years now and it has no doubt been a dependable means of storing your files. It no doubt cost several thousand dollars to purchase and even more to set up and configure, requiring an IT specialist with the skills necessary to make it work in your own custom office network structure. You spent several hours waiting for your files to be available in a common location that all computers in your office could access. This server has indeed served you well, but it is nearing the end of the line. Its days are numbered. What do you do now?

You could purchase another server and spend several thousands of dollars more doing it all over again, just to make sure you can get a few more years of service out of a piece of equipment and a method of file sharing that is quickly and surely becoming obsolete. The other option, which is not only more current with the times, but more practical and definitely more cost effective, is to take that server, throw it in the trash, and upload your files to the cloud.

By switching your file servers to the cloud, you eliminate several obstacles that have put a strain on businesses, both big and small, for several years. Like with a lot of other things in life, great convenience comes at a great price. The easier it is to do something, the more it costs setting it up or to purchase it. Cloud storage, on the other hand, is one of the rare exceptions to that rule. Finally, there is a means to have both convenience and affordability in one package. The great thing about cloud storage, however, is that the convenience doesn’t just come at the end of the process when it is in use. It is also easy and convenient to set up. Anyone with even the most basic computer skills can upload their files to the cloud, and they can retrieve them just as easily.

At this point, it becomes more apparent that cloud storage is the way to go. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to save thousands of dollars on server equipment? Why not save having to pay one or more IT professionals to maintain the server and network? Why not save the trouble of having to still have files emailed to you or loaded onto a flash drive if you want to work outside of the office?

You may be asking: “But what about all those articles I read on business websites saying that cloud storage is way too expensive, even more so than replacing and maintaining servers?” That depends on the cloud storage service. With bigger companies like Dropbox, Google Drive and Amazon S3, the costs will definitely be prohibitive. With the cost of the average business cloud storage service, you can buy 3 servers. But with OpenDrive, a business cloud storage account with unlimited storage space, with access for 20 users, costs a little over $100 per month, which is 1/10 of the cost of other services. TO sweeten that deal, if you sign up today with the link below, you get an additional 10% discount on unlimited plans.

With those low prices, the only argument against business cloud storage that remains, that of affordability, goes right out the window. With OpenDrive, you can go ahead and chuck out those old servers, uploading your files to the cloud, where it will not only save you money but get you access to those files from anywhere and any device with an internet connection. Switch your file servers to the OpenDrive Cloud today.

As our technological lives grow daily, our need to store data does too. Need for unlimited everything seems to be the norm. Bitcasa recently caused waves when they announced that they would discontinue their famous UNLIMITED storage plan, citing that low demand helped them make the decision that, “supporting an Infinite plan is not a viable business for [them].” Bitcasa also states that the number of suspected cases of abuse have risen, further leading to the decision to remove its unlimited storage option.

This news comes out as Bitcasa announces a restructuring of not only their storage servers, but their packages and pricing. Bitcasa has undergone a year-long storage revamp, and in its efforts, has found out that the unlimited storage option offered to its customers is very rarely exercised, and, in some cases, is used to take advantage of the service. Bitcasa representatives state that only 0.5% of its customers use more than 1TB, and less than 0.1% use more than 10TB. For many users, this is the last straw in the line of changes enacted over the past year. Bitcasa has taken their service from unlimited storage for around $100 per year and restricted it to 10TB for a whopping $1000 per year. This is a major change in the game for Bitcasa users, and they are simply perplexed and left in the rain.

These changes are coming soon, also. November 15th is the deadline for customers to move their data or lose it on November 16th. With little notice and a tight deadline, users are finding themselves in a pinch to save precious data. For those not wanting to leave, Bitcasa is pushing its customers to move to the new 1TB plan for the price that most users were paying for unlimited. There is no planned refund for users who have decided to stay with Bitcasa, either. All of these factors have stirred up a storm on Twitter, as well as other outlets, with numerous angry tweets being focused around Bitcasa’s decision.

So users have a strict deadline find a solution to their Bitcasa blues. Customers feel they should not have to fork over the extra cash to stay with the former unlimited provider. Those former users are going to need a viable solution that includes infinite storage. There are very few unlimited storage options out there, and hardly any offer a fair, much less manageable pricetag. On the other hand, OpenDrive still offers completely unlimited plans, and for prices that won’t destroy your budget.

OpenDrive has been offering unlimited storage continuously, and, paired with some mighty features, it is the best value on the market. What other service offers support for Android, iOS, Windows, and WebDAV, as well as features like Zoho online editor, streaming, and easy file sharing, along with providing an excellent set of features for business plans? OpenDrive allows you to store, backup, and collaborate for a low price and perhaps most importantly, with unlimited options in place. For $12.95 a month for a personal plan, users can experience a no-bars experience on uploads, device usage, file size, and more. Unlimited business options are also in place for your cloud storage starting at $29.95 a month. All of these features and storage come along with OpenDrive’s “Sync and Backup Manager” and an amazing support base. If you are finding yourself in a panic of migrating your data away from Bitcasa, you will surely find your solution in OpenDrive.

In a world where it seems like new updates are required for our tech devices on a weekly, if not daily, basis, it would be nice to know that the cloud storage we use is ready for whatever. Sometimes, updates make our favorite apps and programs run a bit on the quirky side, but usually this is fixed with an app update to accompany the operating system upgrade. But what if these quirks show up in something a little bit more crucial than our games and other apps? Many people, in increasing numbers nonetheless, are relying on the cloud to safely and securely store their important pics, videos, and documents. Some of these files could be the difference between prosperity and famine for business owners. Some of these files, like family photos, are totally irreplaceable.

In the past several weeks, with the release of iOS 8 and subsequent dates, some of the iFaithful are having issues with their cloud storage providers. Dropbox users, after installing the iOS 8 update, have reported issues with their automatic upload feature. This bug caused an uproar, and the service had to temporarily disable its automatic upload feature, further inconveniencing its users. Even after a fix was issued and auto upload was restored, users continually had issues with photos and videos stored in the Dropbox cloud. Users complained of duplicate photo uploads of the same files and multiple thumbnails of the same files, while others suffered from crashes from launch of their Dropbox software.

Even Apple’s own iCloud is having issues with the bugs in iOS 8, as the new update is allegedly causing the cloud service to delete user documents. The “Reset All Settings” button is causing loss of these user files, as well as causing a lot of pain for users. Slow screens, random crashes, and other bugs are also being reported. Coupled with security problem accusations that surfaced after the leak of many photos that were allegedly hacked from the cloud, online storage services are taking a beating right now. But, not all of them are deserving.

Online storage and backup is supposed to be stable and secure, giving you an assurance that your files are safe, not causing you problems or potentially losing money for your business. With all of the uncertainty surrounding other cloud services, including the issues based around iCloud since its release in June, it is nice to have a cloud storage and backup service that is solid enough to avoid bugs and break-ins. Staying ahead of the curve, OpenDrive fixes compatibility issues before they are a problem, ensuring peace of mind for its users.

OpenDrive has had no issues with the iOS 8 update, and customers are very happy because of this. No data was lost or double uploaded. No complete data losses were reported, either. The app continues to run fluidly with no interruptions, limitations, or glitch like behavior experienced with other providers. This fact has made sure that OpenDrive’s iOS customers can continue their digital lives as normal and enjoy iOS 8 the way it is meant to be enjoyed.